New Store Opening Offers Good Lessons

In my last article I announced we were opening a new dealership and had just taken possession of the building and had hired a few of our key employees. Now, almost seven weeks later, a lot has happened, including more employee hiring, facility make-ready and our grand-opening event.

We have been blessed that our service department has had work since the first day we opened. With three technicians to keep busy, I was concerned we would be painting lines on the shop floor and having to discount our services to get people to give us a try. This has fortunately not been the case. In our situation, the previous dealer had done a good job in getting a fair amount of equipment into the marketplace and upon his closing 18 months ago, the customers were forced to find service alternatives that were much farther away. Opening back up in the same location was important as this made the transition much easier, and we have not had to spend much money to let people know where we are locate

Dealer Makes Move, Expands Business by Jennifer McCary

Five years ago Leslie and Jhonnie Lawrence pulled up stakes and moved Leslie’s Outdoor Power Equipment about 25 miles from its original Gilmer location to the outskirts of Longview. It was not only the right move, it was the fulfillment of Leslie’s lifelong goal to operate what he describes as a “legitimate bona fide lawn and garden center” complete with separate showroom and service areas. The seed of that ambition was planted when Leslie started working on lawnmowers through his high school D.E. program.

The original store, starting out as a mower repair shop in 1993, had no such luxury. But that didn’t keep the savvy small town dealer, who had a population of less than 5,000 in his trade area, from ranking in the top 10 North American Snapper dealers three years in a row—from 2000 to 2002.

Delivering the data on lawn and garden industry dealers’ overall economic health, business profile a

Roughly every other year since 1992, Power Equipment Trade has administered a Dealer Survey to its readers, in an effort to provide quantified information on the lawn and garden industry’s servicing dealer base and to learn more about dealer issues and concerns.

This year almost 500 dealers took the survey, an important year since the U.S. is currently undergoing an economic downturn tougher than any in decades. The survey results show how dealers are adapting to tighter credit and lower consumer demand.

Internal Pricing Cuts Profit Margin Down by John Walker

Years ago, I was introduced to Absorption Rate by an associate and good friend who also happened to be an expert in the automotive and truck aftermarket. I have never talked to an equipment dealer who did not want to have an Absorption Rate of more than 100%, and any dealer who achieves 100% always wants to continue improving the number. Some manufacturers convince dealers that Absorption Rate should cover both the dealership’s Fixed Overhead and Variable Selling Expenses—mainly to benefit sales of new and used equipment. However, the equip­ment dealer should want to enhance profit and cash flow.

Deep Thought - and a Laugh

Small businesses must be extra diligent to avoid violating federal wage and hour laws. Common mistakes include permitting hourly workers to waive their right to overtime pay, averaging a worker’s hours over two weeks instead of treating each work week as a single unit when calculating whether overtime pay is warranted, giving time off instead of cash, treating all salaried employees as exempt from FLSA overtime rules, and docking the pay of an employee who is exempt from overtime payments.

'Simply Irresponsible' by Dan Shell

This issue contains a news item from BoatUSA, America's largest boaters association, which has come out against the Environmental Protection Agency's consideration of approving a request to make 15% ethanol-blended gasoline the standard transportation fuel in the U.S., a 50% increase from the currently 10% (E10) blend now widely available. BoatUSA’s VP of Govt. Affairs Margaret Podlich said the move to approve E15, without much more testing of non-automotive engines,is “simply irresponsible.” She’s right.

Now, there's plenty of evidence to the contrary. Just like the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute's (OPEI) “Smart Brief” daily newsletter, I also receive one from the Renewable Fuels Assn., which is pretty much all about ethanol all the time. It seems like every week there are two or three more studies coming out—mostly from Midwest corn-belt associations and colleges—touting the wonderful benefits of ethanol and the terrible disasters that would happen if the amount of ethan

Supplier Sales, Distribution and Program News

c-Systems Software Inc. has announced the acquisition of Softpower Business Solutions. The combination of c-Systems and Softpower creates the largest business management system vendor in the power equipment industry. Beginning in April, c-Systems rebranded Connecticut-based Softpower’s programs as Softpower by c-Systems.

“For the foreseeable future, c-Systems and Softpower will continue as they have traditionally been operated,” c-Systems marketing director Joe Miller said.

The Latest in the New Products, New Technology

Kyodo America’s line of automatic robotic mowers, LawnBott, is making its way to dealers. LawnBotts have been cutting grass in Europe for 9 years and have gradually built up awareness in the U.S. LawnBotts cut grass automatically, whenever the owner wants, so the yard is always kept looking trim. Using lithium-ion batteries for low energy consumption (only $7-10 per year), they charge themselves every time they return to their docking stations—all by themselves. That means no gas, no oil and no pollution—just efficient, quiet lawn care. No CARB or EPA restrictions to worry about, just a better way to cut the grass.